the rest, because, in the place where he
represented the ascent of Our Lady to heaven, besides making the
apostles four braccia high each, in which he showed his greatness of
mind, being the first artist who attempted to aggrandise his style,
he gave such a beautiful turn to the heads and such grace to the
vestments that more could not have been desired in those days. In
like manner he painted in the vaulting a choir of angels flying in
the air about a Madonna. As they gracefully dance they appear to be
singing, with a joy truly angelic and divine; whilst they are playing
various instruments their eyes are fixed and intent on another choir
of angels, sustained by a cloud of almond shape bearing the Madonna
to heaven arranged in beautiful attitudes and surrounded by rainbows.
This work, which was deservedly popular, procured him a commission to
paint in tempera the picture of the high altar of that Pieve, where
in five panels of life-size figures, represented to the knees, he
made Our Lady with the Child on her arm, with St John the Baptist and
St Matthew on one side of her, and on the other the Evangelist and St
Donate. In the predella are many small figures, as well as in the
frame of the picture above, all really fine and executed in the best
style. I have entirely restored this altar at my own expense and with
my own hands, so that this picture has been placed above the altar of
St Christopher, at the bottom of the church. I may take this
opportunity, without appearing to be impertinent, of saying in this
place that I have myself restored this ancient collegiate church,
moved by Christian piety and by the affection which I bear to the
venerable building, because it was my first instructress in my early
childhood. This I did also because it appeared to me to be as it were
abandoned, and it may now be said to have been called back to life
from the dead. Besides increasing the light, for it was very dark, by
enlarging the original windows and making new ones, I also took away
the choir, which used to occupy a great part of the church, and put
it behind the high altar, to the great satisfaction of the canons
there. The new altar stands alone, and has on the table before it a
Christ calling Peter and Andrew from their nets, and on the side next
the choir is another picture of St George killing the serpent. On the
sides are four panels, each of which contains two saints of
life-size. Above and below in the predella are nu